The Bible

 

Ezekiel 25

Study

   

1 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

2 `Son of man, set thy face unto the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them;

3 and thou hast said to the sons of Ammon: Hear ye a word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy saying, Aha, to My sanctuary, Because it hath been polluted, And unto the ground of Israel, Because it hath been desolate, And unto the house of Judah, Because they have gone into a removal:

4 Therefore, lo, I am giving thee to sons of the east for a possession, And they set their towers in thee, And have placed in thee their tabernacles. They eat thy fruit, and they drink thy milk,

5 And I have given Rabbah for a habitation of camels, And the sons of Ammon for the crouching of a flock, And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah.

6 For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy clapping the hand, And of thy stamping with the foot, And thou rejoicest with all thy despite in soul Against the ground of Israel,

7 Therefore, lo, I -- I have stretched out My hand against thee, And have given thee for a portion to nations, And I have cut thee off from the peoples, And caused thee to perish from the lands; I destroy thee, and thou hast known that I [am] Jehovah.

8 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of the saying of Moab and Seir: Lo, as all the nations [is] the house of Judah;

9 Therefore, lo, I am opening the shoulder of Moab -- From the cities -- from his cities -- from his frontier, The beauty of the land, Beth-Jeshimoth, Baal-Meon, and Kiriathaim,

10 To the sons of the east, with the sons of Ammon, And I have given it for a possession, So that the sons of Ammon are not remembered among nations.

11 And in Moab I do judgments, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah.

12 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of the doings of Edom, In taking vengeance on the house of Judah, Yea, they are very guilty, And they have taken vengeance on them.

13 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have stretched out My hand against Edom, And I have cut off from it man and beast, And given it up -- a waste, from Teman even to Dedan, By sword they do fall.

14 And I have given My vengeance on Edom, By the hand of My people Israel, And they have done in Edom, According to My anger, and according to My fury, And they have known My vengeance, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

15 Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of the doings of the Philistines in vengeance, And they take vengeance with despite in soul, To destroy -- the enmity age-during!

16 Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am stretching out My hand against the Philistines, And I have cut off the Cherethim, And destroyed the remnant of the haven of the sea,

17 And done upon them great vengeance with furious reproofs, And they have known that I [am] Jehovah, In My giving out My vengeance on them!

   

Commentary

 

Tower

  

'To build a tower,' as in Luke 14:27, signifies acquiring interior truths.

In Genesis 11:4, this signifies the worship of self, which consists of a person exalting himself above others, even to the point of worship. This is why self-love, which is arrogance and pride, is called 'height,' 'loftiness,' and 'lifting up,' and is described with anything high. Self-love in worship, or the worship of self is called 'a tower,' because 'a city' signifies doctrine, and ancient cities were fortified with towers with guards.

Towers were also built on the borders of a country. This is why they were called guard towers, or watchmen in 2 Kings 9:17, 17:9, 18:8, and watch-towers, in Isaiah 23:13.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 1306; Isaiah 1, 5, 5:1-2; Luke 14; Mark 1, 12:1, 12; Matthew 21, Matthew 21:33)